Why are so many of the appetizers that get served at Super Bowl parties super ugly? Yes, guacamole is an inherently kind of murky substance, but all those cheese-salsa dips look really repulsive. Sure, they quite often taste good in a guilty pleasure, once-in-awhile indulgence kind of way, but most don't score on the attractiveness scale. And no, shaping something like a football or frosting it in a way that resembles one doesn't do it for me.
So I tried this recipe, figuring it had a fighting chance of providing the salt-spice food components required of any game-day snack with the possibility of a modicum of attractiveness.
Ham and cheese pastry puffs
From PlainChicken.com
Ingredients
1 package puff pastry, thawed
Dijon mustard
Thinly sliced ham (maybe half a pound)
Cheese slices (up to a cup)
1 tablespoon chili
1 teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water)
Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Unfold puff pastry and roll to smooth it out. Cut each pastry sheet into 9 squares and place on a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet. Brush each square with mustard, leaving an edge all around. Top with a small amount of thinly sliced ham. Top with cheese slices.
Mix chili, onion powder, cinnamon and garlic powder. Sprinkle a bit of the mixture over cheese.
Bring two points of the pastry square together and seal in the middle. Brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with a bit more of the spice mixture. Bake for 15 minutes or until puffed and golden.
Rating: Surprisingly, I wasn't super impressed with the taste of these. Maybe the cheddar I had on hand could be improved upon, say with fontina or flavored havarti? But they're kind of a cute delivery device for ham and cheese sandwich fixings.
So far I still give the edge to these guilty pleasures for Super Bowl food:
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